Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reports that the Steelers have reached out LB Ryan Shazier about a new one-year contract.
According to La Canfora, Pittsburgh has been in contact with Shazier’s agent about working out a new deal and it’s not expected to take long for the two parties to reach some sort of agreement.
Shazier has maintained that he would like to resume his NFL career, despite suffering what could end up being a career-ending neck injury a few years ago.
Last week, Shazier told Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he “definitely wants to play again” despite the serious back injury he sustained a few years ago.
“Yeah, I definitely want to play again,” Shazier said. “I have a time frame in my head, but I haven’t really told anybody yet. At the end of the day I’m taking it one step at a time. I’m a lot closer to my goal than I was when I got hurt.”
Shazier admitted he’s considered the possibility of pursuing different football-related jobs, but he just isn’t ready to close the door at this point in time.
“I thought about it a little, bit but I honestly feel like my goal is attainable,” Shazier said. “My doctor said everything is attainable, so I really didn’t think about [other jobs in football] too hard.
“He just said if I keep going at the rate I’m going, the sky’s the limit, the door’s not closed yet, so I just keep pushing.”
Shazier, 26, is a former first-round pick of the Steelers back in 2014. He was in the final year of his four-year, $9.5 million contract and set to make a base salary of $1,284,292 for the 2016 season when the Steelers picked up his fifth-year option.
Shazier earned an $8.718 million salary for the 2017 season and is now in line to be an unrestricted free agent.
In 2017, Shazier appeared in 11 games and recorded 87 tackles, three interceptions, a fumble recovery, two forced fumbles and 10 pass defenses. Pro Football Focus had him rated as the No. 8 inside linebacker out of 87 qualifying players at the time of his injury.
We’ll have more regarding Shazier as the news is available.
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